Hellcats escape Pirates assault

The Island Air Flag Football league was the scene for some high flying action. In the first game of the day the Doghouse Bulldogs took on the Maples Packers. The game got off to an exciting start when Chris Spigner launched a 50 yard touchdown pass to Jon Pump to give Doghouse an early 6-0 lead. Spigner turned the offense controls over to Dave Velez who was just as impressive when he led a Bulldogs scoring drive that ended with a Chris Smith 10 yard TD run and a 13-0 halftime lead.

In the second half Maples quarterback Tyler Lee connected with receivers Nicholas Roberts and Rupert Whittaker but the Doghouse defence killed two lengthy drives with interceptions by Todd Hazelwood and Jyoti Choi. Doghouse put the game out of reach when Velez threw a TD pass to Roger Freeman for a 20-0 win.

The second game featured veteran teams dms hellcats and the Hammerhead Pirates. Coming off of their first loss of the season last week, the Hellcats came out determined and flashed their power running game. After runs by Oliver “Darkstar” Parker dms got down to the Pirates’ two yard line where quarterback Jacob ‘Frecko’ Ebanks found Nikolai Hill for a score.

Renford Barnes hauled in the second TD for Hellcats on a Frecko pass. In the second half Pirates countered with QB Chris Lucas hitting wide-out Greg Ebanks for a 25 yard TD. However the Hellcats would produce a crushing safety thanks to Al Nixon and win 15-7.

In the third game the Calabash Farm Soldiers battled the PWC Ironmen. Calabash was first to score when QB Glen Duran connected with Leslie Harvey on a 45 yard TD pass. Farm Soldiers scored again on a 15 yard TD pass to Will Peguero and a 50 yard TD pass to Peter Whittaker in stride, ending the first half with Calabash leading 20-0.

The second half saw PWC show promise with QB Chris Lebeau connecting with Kyle Broadhurst on a deep throw. But the Farm Soldiers defence, led by George Bustillo, forced Lebeau into an interception. Calabash then got another score on a lateral by Harvey to Whittaker for a 50 yard score. Luigi Moxam then came in to replace Duran and led a scoring drive that ended with a 30 yard TD pass to Duran. PWC got some redemption as Lebeau connected with Jeff Stower for a 35 yard TD pass. But Calabash got the win 34-7.

In the final game the Cox Lumber Colts took on the Burger King Panthers in arguably the most dramatic game of the season. The first half centred on defence as half-time saw a scoreless tie. In the second half both offenses showed up with Burger King scoring first as Jon Carter took a hand off from Neil Clements and ran in for 15 yard TD (with the extra point secured by Simon Rivers) giving the Panthers a 7-0 lead.

Cox then took possession and moved the ball into scoring position and the drive was capped off when Chester Hurlston ran for a five yard TD (extra point was no good) leaving the Panthers in the lead. The Colts stopped the Panthers on their next possession, setting the stage for the great finish. With under two minutes to go in the game, Colts QB Kevin Solomon threaded the needle when he hit Rhys Ebanks down the middle on a 30 yard TD pass giving Cox the lead.

Burger King got the ball with less than a minute to go and made what can be considered on of the best plays in the history of the Cayman Islands Flag Football Association. Ryan Smith took the snap and threw a lateral pass to Clements, who in turn tossed a perfect 50 yard TD pass to Carter; giving the Panthers a hard fought 13-12 victory.

This upcoming weekend the association will be having an All-Star game with representation from all eight men’s teams. The friendly match is slated to kick off at 4pm at Ed Bush stadium in West Bay.